The world of copywriting is far more confusing and complex than what I thought before reading this. I did not realize a simple background noise could cost $10,000, even if it was accidental. It makes content creating a lot harder and make people focus on things they should not be. Even if you pay for the rights to a song, picture, etc. those rights have an expiration and to renew them costs even more. I do understand the need for copyright and it is important to protect your work but I feel like fair use should be more black and white so producers do not end up paying thousands and thousands of dollars for something that was accidental. It really made me think how many films have had to be altered because of copyright issues and if documentaries are completely true. Trademark issues are also a huge issues, especially when trying to make a documentary. Logos are everywhere and you can’t film without catching one on camera. Even if you think you are following all the rules and laws, you still need to get E&O insurance to protect yourself from possible lawsuits. All these laws that artists have to follow make them shy away from creating content which I think is unfair because a simple guy singing a song in the background of a movie should not cost you unreasonable amounts of money. How is a documentary supposed to show a culture if everything surrounding that culture is copyrighted? As someone trying to create content all of this seems like too much to handle but if if someone was trying to use my content I would want a say or compensation in it as well. In the YouTube community I know people are constantly having copyright issues because of the music they choose to put in the background of their videos so they either have to mute their videos or take them down. I do not think that this is necessarily a good or bad example but I think the people making videos could easily avoid this problem by just putting a little extra time into getting music in the public domain. One example of good fair use would be when SNL makes skits making fun of CNN or other news channels. They are just making a parody and while you can easily tell who they are making fun of, it is still their own original content. Recently, Twitter changed their policies and is now legally allowed to take anything their users post and use it for themselves. This has caused an uproar in the twitter community because before many artists posted their work but now they are going to move to other social platforms so their art can be saved. Personally, since I am not heavily involved in this community it is hard for me to say what is wrong or right, but there are definitely positives and negatives to copyright and fair use policies. You just have to make sure you knows all the laws regarding it so it does not hurt you in the end and you can still post you work for people to enjoy.
Exercise 1, Presence Absence
Museum Visit, 9/27
Underscan by Nancy Holt
On the TV there was a video playing that was a sequence of different pictures, the pictures were of different rooms in a house. There was a voiceover of her reading letter her aunt wrote about her husband passing away. The tone of her voice and the black and white pictures help set the mood and make it seem much more personable. It is like you are walking through the house with her aunt talking about different memories.
Head of a Misanthropic Man by Peter Campus
When you first glance at the large screen, it seems like it is a still picture, but the longer you look at it you can see him slightly move as he was posing for the photo. The way the lighting is set up and the closeness of the image gives a feeling of uneasiness or nervousness. The right side of his face was completely shade making him look scary. He had a hard stare that made you not want to look away but made you uncomfortable at the same time.
Face in the Crowd by Alex Pranger
This was a video that played on three different walls. The way it was filmed was poking fun at stereotypical Hollywood Cinema and documentaries. It started off with a series of small interviews with a wide variety of different people. They were talking about different fears they had. It brought to light how people feel empty and how finding a sense of self can be difficult in modern times, especially now with technology. It is easy to feel or get lost.
Old, New, Borrowed, Blue
Krauss Narcissism
Video art is a new form of art and Krauss writes about it being narcissistic because the human body is the central instrument. She calls this “self-encapsulation,” which is the body or psyche as its own surround. Some examples of this were Vito Acconci’s Centers and Air Time, Bruce Nauman’s Revolving Upside Down, and Lynda Bengli’s Now. Both of Acconci’s videos are about self-reflection. In Centers he is continuously pointing at the screen and in Air Time he is sat in front of a mirror “talking to himself” for 35 minutes straight. The artist continually renews the image of himself, whether it is through a literal reflection or copying the same pose time after time. Nauman’s video also has that double effect. He rotated the video camera so that the floor was the ceiling and vice versa, then recorded himself slowly walking from the back wall to the camera for an hour long. Bengli’s video raises a lot more questions, though. In her video she is recording herself, head in profile in front of a video of the same thing but mirrored oppositely. Throughout the video you can hear her saying “Now!” or “Is it now?” but you do not know whether it is from the “live” taping or the previously recorded one.She asks how these videos and video art in general differs from other forms of art; which could simply be answered by saying it is new technology, it is a new variant to try different things. She takes a psychological approach to this new art form, and since it was so conceptual, it made sense to focus on it from that side. Video was just a new way to continue with artists’ original intentions. She believed that people were so interested in video art because of the narcissism in our culture and because of the inner workings of the present art-market. In modern times, video art has advanced that you cannot even look at it the same way anymore. The world of videography has grown and both the content of videos and video editing is so different now. I believe that there still is a level of narcissism related to video are but it has grown to be so much more than that. People care about putting out professional and creative content. With platforms such as YouTube and Instagram though, it has widened the degree of narcissism I believe. While the videos being created are good quality and are edited well, the content of the videos can be questionable. They want to be seen, and look good, but what they are doing is not in their direct interest as long as it is aesthetically pleasing. These videos also range from being straightforward to more complicated. In the 60’s, the artist was more concerned about scale, placement, shape, and other things that really contributed to what they were trying to evoke.
Cinemagraph
AR Summary
"The Poetics of Augmented Space" by Lev Manovich is about raising the question of whether augmented reality enhances environment or takes away from it. Recently, I have been thinking about this question and as of right now, AR and VR is not harmful, but as there is innovation and progression it has the potential to be. I have not lived in a world without technology, and watching it advance as I grow up has just been part of normal life; but seeing new components of AR and VR emerge there are times where I find it unsettling because of where I see it heading (more VR than AR, though). Manovich talks about physical space being filled with electronic and visual information. We are slowly being swallowed by the electronic world and soon augmented space will be the normal.
Now, whether this is good or bad is debatable, and definitely has its pros and cons. It has created fun interactive apps, like Pokemon Go or the filters on Snapchat. It allows us to make our own personal touches to everyday things. But, if augmented reality morphs into virtual reality, things can get weird. I've used virtual reality headsets before and it is a completely different experience. For example, during my experience, I knew in real life there was nothing in front of me but in the virtual world there was a table and I had to reach across the table to grab something. I knew I could just take a step forward but because I saw a table in front of me I tried leaning against the "table" and kind of stumbled because there was, in fact, nothing in front of me. And even though this is an extremely small, harmless example, it shows what is capable.
There is a new movie called Ready Player One, which is based of a book, that is based in 2045 where the actual world has got to trash and chaos so everything lives in the virtual world. While I doubt in 30 years we will be living like that, there is still the opportunity. I feel like as long as we do not fully immerse ourselves in the augmented space and simply use it as an experience instead of a way of living it is okay.
Week 1 Homework
The world of copywriting is far more confusing and complex than what I thought before reading this. I did not realize a simple background noise could cost $10,000, even if it was accidental. It makes content creating a lot harder and make people focus on things they should not be. Even if you pay for the rights to a song, picture, etc. those rights have an expiration and to renew them costs even more. I do understand the need for copyright and it is important to protect your work but I feel like fair use should be more black and white so producers do not end up paying thousands and thousands of dollars for something that was accidental. It really made me think how many films have had to be altered because of copyright issues and if documentaries are completely true.
Trademark issues are also a huge issues, especially when trying to make a documentary. Logos are everywhere and you can’t film without catching one on camera. Even if you think you are following all the rules and laws, you still need to get E&O insurance to protect yourself from possible lawsuits. All these laws that artists have to follow make them shy away from creating content which I think is unfair because a simple guy singing a song in the background of a movie should not cost you unreasonable amounts of money. How is a documentary supposed to show a culture if everything surrounding that culture is copyrighted? As someone trying to create content all of this seems like too much to handle but if if someone was trying to use my content I would want a say or compensation in it as well.
In the YouTube community I know people are constantly having copyright issues because of the music they choose to put in the background of their videos so they either have to mute their videos or take them down. I do not think that this is necessarily a good or bad example but I think the people making videos could easily avoid this problem by just putting a little extra time into getting music in the public domain. One example of good fair use would be when SNL makes skits making fun of CNN or other news channels. They are just making a parody and while you can easily tell who they are making fun of, it is still their own original content. Recently, Twitter changed their policies and is now legally allowed to take anything their users post and use it for themselves. This has caused an uproar in the twitter community because before many artists posted their work but now they are going to move to other social platforms so their art can be saved.
Personally, since I am not heavily involved in this community it is hard for me to say what is wrong or right, but there are definitely positives and negatives to copyright and fair use policies. You just have to make sure you knows all the laws regarding it so it does not hurt you in the end and you can still post you work for people to enjoy.
Exercise 1, Presence Absence
Museum Visit, 9/27
Underscan by Nancy Holt
On the TV there was a video playing that was a sequence of different pictures, the pictures were of different rooms in a house. There was a voiceover of her reading letter her aunt wrote about her husband passing away. The tone of her voice and the black and white pictures help set the mood and make it seem much more personable. It is like you are walking through the house with her aunt talking about different memories.
Head of a Misanthropic Man by Peter Campus
When you first glance at the large screen, it seems like it is a still picture, but the longer you look at it you can see him slightly move as he was posing for the photo. The way the lighting is set up and the closeness of the image gives a feeling of uneasiness or nervousness. The right side of his face was completely shade making him look scary. He had a hard stare that made you not want to look away but made you uncomfortable at the same time.
Face in the Crowd by Alex Pranger
This was a video that played on three different walls. The way it was filmed was poking fun at stereotypical Hollywood Cinema and documentaries. It started off with a series of small interviews with a wide variety of different people. They were talking about different fears they had. It brought to light how people feel empty and how finding a sense of self can be difficult in modern times, especially now with technology. It is easy to feel or get lost.
Old, New, Borrowed, Blue
Krauss Narcissism
Video art is a new form of art and Krauss writes about it being narcissistic because the human body is the central instrument. She calls this “self-encapsulation,” which is the body or psyche as its own surround. Some examples of this were Vito Acconci’s Centers and Air Time, Bruce Nauman’s Revolving Upside Down, and Lynda Bengli’s Now. Both of Acconci’s videos are about self-reflection. In Centers he is continuously pointing at the screen and in Air Time he is sat in front of a mirror “talking to himself” for 35 minutes straight. The artist continually renews the image of himself, whether it is through a literal reflection or copying the same pose time after time. Nauman’s video also has that double effect. He rotated the video camera so that the floor was the ceiling and vice versa, then recorded himself slowly walking from the back wall to the camera for an hour long. Bengli’s video raises a lot more questions, though. In her video she is recording herself, head in profile in front of a video of the same thing but mirrored oppositely. Throughout the video you can hear her saying “Now!” or “Is it now?” but you do not know whether it is from the “live” taping or the previously recorded one.She asks how these videos and video art in general differs from other forms of art; which could simply be answered by saying it is new technology, it is a new variant to try different things. She takes a psychological approach to this new art form, and since it was so conceptual, it made sense to focus on it from that side. Video was just a new way to continue with artists’ original intentions. She believed that people were so interested in video art because of the narcissism in our culture and because of the inner workings of the present art-market. In modern times, video art has advanced that you cannot even look at it the same way anymore. The world of videography has grown and both the content of videos and video editing is so different now. I believe that there still is a level of narcissism related to video are but it has grown to be so much more than that. People care about putting out professional and creative content. With platforms such as YouTube and Instagram though, it has widened the degree of narcissism I believe. While the videos being created are good quality and are edited well, the content of the videos can be questionable. They want to be seen, and look good, but what they are doing is not in their direct interest as long as it is aesthetically pleasing. These videos also range from being straightforward to more complicated. In the 60’s, the artist was more concerned about scale, placement, shape, and other things that really contributed to what they were trying to evoke.
Cinemagraph
AR Summary
"The Poetics of Augmented Space" by Lev Manovich is about raising the question of whether augmented reality enhances environment or takes away from it. Recently, I have been thinking about this question and as of right now, AR and VR is not harmful, but as there is innovation and progression it has the potential to be. I have not lived in a world without technology, and watching it advance as I grow up has just been part of normal life; but seeing new components of AR and VR emerge there are times where I find it unsettling because of where I see it heading (more VR than AR, though). Manovich talks about physical space being filled with electronic and visual information. We are slowly being swallowed by the electronic world and soon augmented space will be the normal.
Now, whether this is good or bad is debatable, and definitely has its pros and cons. It has created fun interactive apps, like Pokemon Go or the filters on Snapchat. It allows us to make our own personal touches to everyday things. But, if augmented reality morphs into virtual reality, things can get weird. I've used virtual reality headsets before and it is a completely different experience. For example, during my experience, I knew in real life there was nothing in front of me but in the virtual world there was a table and I had to reach across the table to grab something. I knew I could just take a step forward but because I saw a table in front of me I tried leaning against the "table" and kind of stumbled because there was, in fact, nothing in front of me. And even though this is an extremely small, harmless example, it shows what is capable.
There is a new movie called Ready Player One, which is based of a book, that is based in 2045 where the actual world has got to trash and chaos so everything lives in the virtual world. While I doubt in 30 years we will be living like that, there is still the opportunity. I feel like as long as we do not fully immerse ourselves in the augmented space and simply use it as an experience instead of a way of living it is okay.